EU directive may discourage new buy-to-let investors
New European Union regulations may have a major impact on how landlords in the United Kingdom do business, and while these proposals would likely lead to new expenses for those in the buy-to-let sector, the British government will have some leeway when it comes to determining how and to what extent the European directive is implemented. The EU is currently examining a proposed directive that would require all residential landlords in the 27 member union to ensure that every rental property is accessible to those with physical disabilities. Current regulations in the UK only require landlords to make these modifications and invest in the appropriate infrastructure if they have a tenant with a disability. The new rules, however, would make these changes necessary, even if a given property has been rented out over the long-term to a tenant without any known disabilities and, as such, the new infrastructure would never be used.
This legislation, drafted by the European Commission (EC), would require landlords to add ramps to their properties, wherever there are steps to climb outside the building, add new, accessible washroom facilities and Landlord Assist, an organization that provides help when it comes to tenant evictions, believes that the legislation might also require the installation of very costly stair lifts.
Stephen Perry serves as Landlord Assist’s commercial director, and he suggested that the new EU regulations might actually make the current housing shortage in some parts of the UK even more acute and a series of new costs will certainly do nothing to encourage landlords from expanding their business or bring new investors into the buy-to-let sector.
The European Commission’s proposed regulations would come into force as directives. This would mean that the British government would have significant flexibility in actually determining how the new rules are enacted. In contrast to an act or a bill passed by Parliament, an EU directive provides national governments with a general direction, approach or set of values to follow, but it does not normally dictate how these are actually implemented or regulated. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government has yet to indicate how it would respond to such a directive.